Girding loins for bathroom refit. How to seal round bath?

Sealing strip under bottom row of tiles. BTDTGTTS. Flexible and effecive.
Excellent to start with, then goes discoloured and can't be changed,
becoming a major irritant.

Sealing strip on surface. Flexible and effective. Looks crap but can, in
extremis, be changed

Careful positioning of tiles and careful application of high quality sealant
bead with bath full of water. Looks good (hopefully), less room for
movement/prone to leaks though. Can be renewed. Possibly the best?

Votes?

--
Bob Mannix
(anti-spam is as easy as 1-2-3 - not)

Bob Mannix wrote:
Girding loins for bathroom refit. How to seal round bath?

Sealing strip under bottom row of tiles. BTDTGTTS. Flexible and effecive.
Excellent to start with, then goes discoloured and can't be changed,
becoming a major irritant.

Sealing strip on surface. Flexible and effective. Looks crap but can, in
extremis, be changed

Careful positioning of tiles and careful application of high quality sealant
bead with bath full of water. Looks good (hopefully), less room for
movement/prone to leaks though. Can be renewed. Possibly the best?

No contest. The final option; using a Fugenboy to finish off.

David

"Lobster" wrote in message
...
Bob Mannix wrote:
Girding loins for bathroom refit. How to seal round bath?

Sealing strip under bottom row of tiles. BTDTGTTS. Flexible and effecive.
Excellent to start with, then goes discoloured and can't be changed,
becoming a major irritant.

Sealing strip on surface. Flexible and effective. Looks crap but can, in
extremis, be changed

Careful positioning of tiles and careful application of high quality
sealant bead with bath full of water. Looks good (hopefully), less room
for movement/prone to leaks though. Can be renewed. Possibly the best?

No contest. The final option; using a Fugenboy to finish off.

Blimey, I can't afford to pay staff )


--
Bob Mannix
(anti-spam is as easy as 1-2-3 - not)

"Bob Mannix" wrote


Careful positioning of tiles and careful application of high quality
sealant bead with bath full of water. Looks good (hopefully), less room
for movement/prone to leaks though. Can be renewed. Possibly the best?

Bob

You forgot one important bit - careful fixing of substantial support around
the bath edges - additional support for the base if you or other users are
heavy!.
If the bath can't move significantly (other than due to expansion which
should be considered) there's less chance of the seal being stressed and
broken.

Phil

On Wed, 9 Apr 2008 07:40:51 +0100, Bob Mannix wrote:

Votes?

3

--
Cheers
Dave.

"TheScullster" wrote in message
. uk...

"Bob Mannix" wrote


Careful positioning of tiles and careful application of high quality
sealant bead with bath full of water. Looks good (hopefully), less room
for movement/prone to leaks though. Can be renewed. Possibly the best?

Bob

You forgot one important bit - careful fixing of substantial support
around the bath edges - additional support for the base if you or other
users are heavy!.
If the bath can't move significantly (other than due to expansion which
should be considered) there's less chance of the seal being stressed and
broken.


Hmmmm. A decent bath shouldn't flex too much itself but the floor will sag
slightly so there will always be some movement to accomodate (hence the
filling with water before sealing). I don't like the idea of edge supports
myself as one doesn't want the bath hanging by the edge supports in any way
(although I am open to being convinced). Floor support where appropriate,
yes.


--
Bob Mannix
(anti-spam is as easy as 1-2-3 - not)

"Bob Mannix" wrote in message
...
"TheScullster" wrote in message
. uk...

"Bob Mannix" wrote


Careful positioning of tiles and careful application of high quality
sealant bead with bath full of water. Looks good (hopefully), less room
for movement/prone to leaks though. Can be renewed. Possibly the best?

Bob

You forgot one important bit - careful fixing of substantial support
around the bath edges - additional support for the base if you or other
users are heavy!.
If the bath can't move significantly (other than due to expansion which
should be considered) there's less chance of the seal being stressed and
broken.


Hmmmm. A decent bath shouldn't flex too much itself but the floor will sag
slightly so there will always be some movement to accomodate (hence the
filling with water before sealing). I don't like the idea of edge supports
myself as one doesn't want the bath hanging by the edge supports in any
way (although I am open to being convinced). Floor support where
appropriate, yes.


--
Bob Mannix
(anti-spam is as easy as 1-2-3 - not)

...and some pieces of hardwood under the feet to spread the load. The small
feet can indent soft floorboards.

Bob Mannix wrote:

Careful positioning of tiles and careful application of high quality sealant
bead with bath full of water. Looks good (hopefully), less room for
movement/prone to leaks though. Can be renewed. Possibly the best?

Yup, my preferred solution. If the bath has a roll edge, then I normally
chop out the wall a little so it can sit in the wall half an inch, and
tile down to just above the bath so that you don't have a natural
moisture trap and the water naturally runs onto a bit of the bath that
will drain. Fill with water, seal.

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
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"John Rumm" wrote in message
news:xYidndu_NsSxDGHanZ2dnUVZ8rGdnZ2d@plusnet...
Bob Mannix wrote:

Careful positioning of tiles and careful application of high quality
sealant bead with bath full of water. Looks good (hopefully), less room
for movement/prone to leaks though. Can be renewed. Possibly the best?

Yup, my preferred solution. If the bath has a roll edge, then I normally
chop out the wall a little so it can sit in the wall half an inch, and

hmmm, good idea

tile down to just above the bath so that you don't have a natural moisture
trap and the water naturally runs onto a bit of the bath that will drain.
Fill with water, seal.

I'll do just that!


--
Bob Mannix
(anti-spam is as easy as 1-2-3 - not)

"Bob Mannix" wrote


Hmmmm. A decent bath shouldn't flex too much itself but the floor will sag
slightly so there will always be some movement to accomodate (hence the
filling with water before sealing). I don't like the idea of edge supports
myself as one doesn't want the bath hanging by the edge supports in any
way (although I am open to being convinced). Floor support where
appropriate, yes.


I was specifically advised by the plumbers merchant to provide good support
to the long bath edge.
They suggested a baton along the wall. The bath is a good quality item with
an "aquanite" coating - guaranteed for 25 years, so not a flexi B&Q special.
One problem is that when you get out of a bath you tend to lift your top
half out by pushing upward off the bath sides IYSWIM.
As the upstairs walls in my place are naff to say the least, I ended up
making a 2x2 frame to support the edges.
I also put some blocks under the base of the bath which would aleviate
problems due to sinking feet mentioned by others.
I actually forgot the old "fill-the-bath-before-sealing" bit. So I checked
afterwards with a straight edge across the top of the bath.
There was no discernable movement of the edge between empty bath and full
bath + me!

HTH

Phil

"TheScullster" wrote in message
...

"Bob Mannix" wrote


Hmmmm. A decent bath shouldn't flex too much itself but the floor will
sag slightly so there will always be some movement to accomodate (hence
the filling with water before sealing). I don't like the idea of edge
supports myself as one doesn't want the bath hanging by the edge supports
in any way (although I am open to being convinced). Floor support where
appropriate, yes.


I was specifically advised by the plumbers merchant to provide good
support to the long bath edge.
They suggested a baton along the wall. The bath is a good quality item
with an "aquanite" coating - guaranteed for 25 years, so not a flexi B&Q
special.
One problem is that when you get out of a bath you tend to lift your top
half out by pushing upward off the bath sides IYSWIM.
As the upstairs walls in my place are naff to say the least, I ended up
making a 2x2 frame to support the edges.
I also put some blocks under the base of the bath which would aleviate
problems due to sinking feet mentioned by others.
I actually forgot the old "fill-the-bath-before-sealing" bit. So I
checked afterwards with a straight edge across the top of the bath.
There was no discernable movement of the edge between empty bath and full
bath + me!


Fair enough!


--
Bob Mannix
(anti-spam is as easy as 1-2-3 - not)

Position the bath so it's about 10mm below the bottom tile and flill
the gap with flexible silicone sealer. Trim it with one of the right
angled scrapers for a good finish.
Let that skin over and adjust the bath feet up a couple of mm to
compress the seal.
Let the seal set completely and raise the bath slightly more. This
puts the seal in compression and will accomadate slight movement. It
does assume the bath's on adjustable feet though.
After this, I tile around the edge with quadrant tiles set into seal-
and-stick. That way I've a double seal.

John